INTRODUCTION

Hello, and welcome to the e-book: “Arch Viz Artist - Scene Optimization”.

Presumably, you are a 3d artist and sometimes you have problems in rendering
your scene, 3ds max crashes when you hit the render button, the software viewport
is laggy, you feel that the parameters of your computer are not good enough, and
your RAM usage is going too high…

We have GOOD NEWS for you!

There are still some things you can do to make it work better for you. These are
the methods that every 3d artist should know and use. Optimizing your scene
should become your habit as it can save you a lot of time regardless how good
a computer you have.  

Stop wasting your time because you will never get it back…
We present  you 15 great methods which we’ll improve your workflow and help
you with optimizing your scene. After implementing these methods you will
become a more productive artist and you will gain a lot of time. 

And it will be YOUR choice how you will spend this!

Don’t let the coincidence decide for you.

So let’s dive in!

AGA & ADAM

 AB OUT AUT HORS

AGNIESZKA & ADAM KLICH

Black Balance Studio

NUMEROUS JOURNEYS AND EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE GAINED IN AUSTRALIA, THE UNITED

STATES AND EUROPE HAVE SHAPED OUR VIEW OF THE WORLD, GAVE A HUGE DOSE OF
INSPIRATION AND DRIVEN US TO ACTION. WE FOUNDED BLACK BALANCE STUDIO WITH
PASSION FOR CREATING, EVOKING EMOTIONS AND CREATING VALUE. THE PERSONALITIES,
THAT COMPLEMENTED EACH OTHER, FORM OUR TEAM IN ORDER TO MEET YOUR
EXPECTATIONS IN THE BEST WAY.

WE TRULY BELIEVE THAT THE GREAT SKILL SET CAN TAKE EACH ARTIST TO THE NEXT
LEVEL. THAT IS WHY WE DECIDED TO SHARE THE KNOWLEDGE WE HAVE LEARNT OVER
THE YEARS TO HELP ARTISTS LIKE WE IMPROVING THEIR SKILLS.

DURING THIS TIME, WE HAVE GAINED A LOT OF EXPERIENCE, WE HAD BEEN ABLE TO
WORK OUT SOME GREAT METHODS WHICH GIVES US POSSIBILITY TO CREATE IMAGES IN
THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY.
 OPTIMIZE
YOUR SCENE...

... AND GAIN

MORE TIME!
HOW TO OPTIMIZE SCENES?
These are the good habits not only for 3d artists dealing with
the problem of not having a good enough computer.

TURN ON AND CONTROL POLYGON COUNT STATISTICS.

STEP 1 - Go to 'Configure Viewports...'.

STEP 2 - Choose proper options.

 STEP 3 - Control your statistics.

USE 3D MAX OPTIMIZING MODIFIERS

They can quickly reduce the number of polys in your model, but they might deform its shape.
So you need to be careful with this. We use f.ex. ProOptimizer Modifier.

STEP 1 - Check the statistics of model.

STEP 2 - Choose ProOptimizer Modifier.

STEP 3 - Check 'Keep Textures'.

STEP 4 - Click 'Calculate'.

STEP 5 - Change the value of 'Vertex %'

and watch the statistics of the model.
 DON’T USE HEAVY MODELS WHICH ARE FAR AWAY.

A lot of times, there is no need to use high-poly models if they are not close to the camera.
Mostly, low quality models will be good enough in this case.

DELETE ALL ASSETS WHICH ARE NOT VISIBLE IN THE CAMERA VIEW.

It also includes models on hidden layers, blueprints used for modelling, and imported CAD
drawings etc.

CONVERT MODELS TO PROXIES, IF YOU CAN.

Proxies are useful for keeping smooth viewport performance while handling large amounts of
high-poly objects in the scene. They also make your scene files smaller, by storing the proxy
objects in other locations.

USE INSTANCES INSTEAD OF COPIES, IF YOU CAN.

If you have many identical objects in the scene, use instances. This way 3ds Max saves
memory when constantly drawing these objects in the viewports.

STEP - Choose instance.

 OPTIMIZE THE SIZE OF MAPS.

If you don’t have any third-party manager which can manage your file assets, you can use the
Resource Collector feature to collect all scene assets, such as bitmaps, to a single project
folder. Then, you can easily resize all of maps from this folder.

STEP 1 - Go to 'Utilities' in Command Panel

STEP 2 - Choose 'Resource Collector'.

 STEP 3 - Choose the output path.

USE LOW-RES MAPS FOR THE MODELS WHICH ARE FAR AWAY FROM A CAMERA

Reduce size of the maps for the models which are not close to the camera. Most of the times,
you won't see the difference.

USE .JPG OR .TIFF FORMAT INSTEAD OF .PNG OR .PSD FILES, IF YOU CAN.

REMOVE DISPLACEMENT MAPS WHEN POSSIBLE.

Remove Displacement maps and use higher-res geometry, Bump or Normal Bump maps
instead. Displacement maps will increase render times greatly.

DON’T GROUP ELEMENTS, IF YOU CAN.

Limit the number of groups within a scene file, instead attach elements to one object.

BE CAREFUL WITH OBJECTS IMPORTED FROM DIFFERENT SOFTWARE

Object imported from different software can cause a lot of unexpected issues, always try to
check it and optimize  first!
 COLLAPSE MODIFIERS, IF YOU CAN.

F.ex. three modifiers make the object 3 x "heavier" in terms of memory and scene calculations.
So if you don't need to edit the object, collapse all modifiers.

STEP 1 - Control the number of modifiers.

STEP 2 - Right click and 'Collapse All'.

 OPTIMIZE TURBO SMOOTH MODIFIER IN THE VIEWPORT

You can make your 3ds max preview to work faster if you reduce the 'visible in the viewport'
interactions to '0'. Enable 'Render Inters' and choose the correct value. This way, you won't see
the TurboSmooth effect in the viewport but it will still be rendered.

STEP 1 - Check the TurboSmooth modifier.

STEP 2 - Change the 'Interactions' value

to '0', turn on 'Render Inters' and copy the
value you have had before in 'Interaction'.
 WATCH THE NUMBER OF AUTO BACKUPS

If Auto Backup is set to save the scene file every 5 minutes (as default), we suggest you to
increase it to 30 minutes. The larger the scene file, the longer it will take to save.

STEP 1 - Go to 'Customize'
and choose 'Preferences...'

STEP 2 - Go to 'Files' and increase the

value of 'Backup Interval (minutes)'.
SUMMARY

The following methods of optimizing scenes can significantly speed up your files and make
your production process smooth and pleasant. It all depends on the scene and not all of
these methods apply to every case. That’s why, you should use it as suggestions and test this
before sending the final render.

SPEED UP YOUR WORKFLOW

ARCH VIZ ARTIST WORKFLOW OPTIMIZATION ONLINE TRAINING

If you want to get the full knowledge on how we

optimize everything inside 3ds max plus get all of
ours quads, shortcuts, toolbars with scripts and
icones, hotkeys, library structure, layers structure,
templates and more, make sure you check out our
brand new course focusing on this topic.

LEARN MORE

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

We have an YouTube channel where we share tutorials, tips and
tricks and other content about 3d visualizations.

Click HERE to subscribe to our YouTube channel ;)